Why Would Anyone Doubt?

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Melodeonist

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I don’t get this. Why would anyone doubt their faith? Sure, we all get doubtful thoughts, but as long as we realize they are from the evil one we just ignore the thoughts.

Also, we all have periods where we are tempted to be spiritually slothful. The answer to this one is really easy: if you feel like doing less, do even more. That’s what I usually try to do when Satan tries to get me to stop reading the Bible.

I don’t get it at all. Why would anyone even accept doubting thoughts? If you believe the Truth is the Truth, it’s the Truth. Doubt is only from Satan.
 
You can’t really dismiss them as thoughts from the devil when you are struggling to believe that the devil actually exists though. Expecting people to have blind faith is not really realistic. It’s like asking you to believe in Santa, you just need more than blind faith if you’re going to believe it.

I have my doubts here and there because I have never really experienced God, it is more an act of the will than anything.
 
Also, faith and reason do not have to be in opposition. Sometimes faith needs purified by reason. Blind faith is a dangerous thing. So doubts are not always from Satan, especially if they lead to deeper questioning and then deeper understanding.
 
If you don’t have doubt, it’s because you have the gift of faith. Not everybody gets this gift. There are saints who have had doubts, although they didn’t abandon the Church or go out and commit sins because they struggled with doubt.

You should just pray for those who do have doubt and also pray that you yourself continue to be free of doubt.

You should not assume that doubt comes from Satan. It could be that God allows some people to work through or cope with logical doubts as a way of learning or becoming closer to Him.
 
I am not going to try to be offensive.

Melodeonist.

You are very young. Your faith is very new. You are very sheltered.

Life is difficult. Life is often ugly.

Just this weekend a couple that sat behind us were absolute jerks. They made it clear that my child was horrible…even though every other person in that parish–including the Priest–just adores her. They refused to shake my husband and I’s hands at the sign of peace and they absolutely ignored her. It was painfully obvious as they reached around to shake other’s hands.

I mean, she’s a toddler. Why would someone be cruel to a toddler?

Things like this are painful and can cause doubt. My husband and I are very strong in our faith. Everyone else at Mass was SO kind to us but you know? It still stings.

It’s not just being slothful. It’s not just “accepting it”

Get back to us when you have more experience.
 
Everyone is different, and for some, “practical reality” and 'critical logic" is stronger than faith.
There is not a brain universality and not all brains are completely alike.
I’ve seen some of the research as to why some are more prone to belief, some less.
Some of us have more white matter in the brain, some less.
Some of the difference is biological
It doesn’t always seem to be 'politically correct" to give links or to suggest researching, so I won’t provide any links, not that I cant.
However, even many of those whose brain biology predisposes them more to doubt God and spiritual realities, do have strong faith,
because faith ultimately is a gift, as Tis_Bearself rightly says.
 
I love toddlers at Mass. They make the liturgy part of family life. I will never forget this one child playing with his dad’s face. Dad was so patient. Meanwhile, Mass goes on. It just all seemed so beautiful to me.
 
That’s a shame that you had the experience. Could I offer a couple of possible explanations (not excuses)?
Perhaps this couple had lost a child of their own and your child reminded them (maybe she looked like their child). Maybe their attempts to ‘distance’ themselves and looks of ‘revulsion’ were an attempt not to break down into tears and grief and howling at God.

Perhaps this couple had deliberately aborted a child at some point. Perhaps they had a niece or a family friend who looked like your daughter. Perhaps their aborted child would have been your daughter’s age. Perhaps again their distancing, revulsion, etc. came because they were trying again desperately to convince themselves they had made the right decision. Perhaps they were deliberately looking for actions that made them certain that a child was a horrible bother, so they were right to abort. Or that parenthood makes a person ‘less’ and how glad they were they weren’t like you, all ‘focused on a horrible kid’ instead of being ‘free’ like them.

Again, these are not saying the above are good reasons, but perhaps it really was something like that, i.e. not so much personal against you per se or your child. Any parent and child of a similar age (or perhaps even older or younger) would be seen as some kind of horrible ‘fate’ that they had been RIGHT to reject in the latter, or as a painful reminder of what they had once thought to share but lost in the death of their child, in the former.
 
Shakuhachi said:
I love toddlers at Mass. They make the liturgy part of family life. I will never forget this one child playing with his dad’s face. Dad was so patient. Meanwhile, Mass goes on. It just all seemed so beautiful to me.
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She really does try to behave. She loves singing the Gospel “alleluia” to which she sings LALALALALALA to no particular tune, octave or beat.

Also giving her best toddler booty dance during Father singing during Consecration. 😱 Facepalm for Mom moment.

The latest thing has been a baby in Mass (the baby was missing this week). This has been a showstopper. She yells “A BABY! A BABY” And she has to let EVERYONE know and is determined they see the baby. She is just so enamored and amazed at the tiny thing. And I really forget. Babies are amazing. Perhaps not at Mass, but really…it IS amazing.
 
Yes. I love them at Mass. We sometimes take ourselves too seriously. God has a sense of humor. Of course even I have my limits. Loud incessant crying, time to take a walk.
 
There are a million excuses.
They were an older couple.

They very much were “the type” we go to the 4pm mass that believe it’s their sacred right to have a Child-free Mass. Perhaps they had a valid reasons. Perhaps they were just jerks.

We left our old parish because they created a during Mass daycare and Father allowed parishioners to “encourage” parents to put their children in there. At the time, my little one was under one and I was appalled. She slept through Mass in my arms. She made NO noise. Yet people said that she “belonged” in the nursery. NO. She is baptized. She belongs at Mass.
 
Shakuhachi said:
Yes. I love them at Mass. We sometimes take ourselves too seriously. God has a sense of humor. Of course even I have my limits. Loud incessant crying, time to take a walk.
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Oh yes. Little one is removed quickly if she howls. Fortunately, unless she falls and bumps her head she almost never cries.

My 11 niece, who struggles with social issues, sometimes has to be reminded not to chat in Mass. She is not just a talkitive child, but because she has no sense of time, she can get freaked out if she can’t get something off of her mind. Children need to be treated with kindness no matter her age
 
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@Melodeonist

Doubt isn’t always from Satan. We live in a fallen world and are imperfect people. We have free will and pride.

Did you have have some source that leads you to believe this? I am curious and would like to read it.
 
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Unfortunately I don’t have a source per se, as I had thought it was the case. I guess the “source” is my brain.
 
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